Katharine For the People, By the People

By

Greg (Gregoriancant)

 
That woman there, do you see her? She’s standing on that stage up there in this giant balloon-filled convention hall giving a speech to maybe 20,000 of her fans, friends, family and constituents. It’s a speech of a lifetime. And she looks so unbelievably beautiful at the age of 42, even though she’s still at the place where she doesn’t want to accept that reality. Her skin is still as smooth as it was when she was 32…and 22. Plus, she’s kept her body toned with an aura of healthiness--thanks to a continued balanced diet she helped champion twenty years ago when he career was just beginning. She just looks extraordinary for her age that could make her still pass for a woman in her 20’s. She’s also done so much for other people over the years that this speech is really shocking to everybody and just might age them about twenty years. I’m sitting in the back of the hall—but I still feel the impact of what she’s saying through every single soul in here listening to her every word. With her husband and three kids by her side, she’s just turned down the public mandate for her to be the first woman President of the United States. The public demands to take her extremely positive influence to super levels in the world finally hit a breaking point.

You probably recognize this woman’s name of Katharine McPhee. That seems almost unnecessary to say at this point in time when Katharine pretty much dominates the news on a daily basis and is the most influential and powerful entertainer/philanthropist in the world. I’ve followed her around this week as sort of a secret reporter—because I knew this speech today was coming. This week was probably the most extraordinary week Katharine’s ever had so far in her life…and that’s saying something. But I had to get myself reacquainted with everything related to Katharine, because I’ve been away from her world for quite a while. It was good to have a re-examination of who she is as a person and humanist. Though I’ve examined her life off and on--and it’s been about ten years now when she first hit that crest of influence. That was when she finally broke a record of having the most Grammy wins, Tony wins and Golden Globe/Oscar wins in less than a few years. It began when her eponymous second album won Grammy Awards for album and song of the year in early 2009 at the ripe old age of 25 after already holding 5x platinum status for her debut album released in late 2006. Then she went to Broadway that fall and did a year-long engagement in a new musical written by Stephen Schwartz based on Gregory McGuire’s second book (after ‘Wicked’) called ‘Confessions Of An Ugly Stepsister.’ Katharine won a best supporting actress Tony for that playing the Iris Fisher role. She also won a lead Tony Award the following year for playing Elphaba in a revival of ‘Wicked’ on Broadway. She even did a stint in the final Broadway year of ‘Phantom of the Opera’ playing Christine that also garnered a special Tony in 2012. In-between all this, Katharine managed to star as Elphaba in Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of ‘Wicked’ for the big screen. Kat already had a long list of co-starring and starring parts in movies—but finally got the lead role of a lifetime in 2010. Oh, she won an Oscar for Best Actress in ‘Wicked’ in Feb. of 2011…including the Golden Globe for the same role that previous January. 

After four consecutive years of winning every award possible—she decided to get married and raise a family amid wanting to go in different directions with her career. Her husband didn’t and doesn’t work in her industry (in fact, he later became a stay at home dad), which helped her not have to compete with a spouse in awards and accolades. While she was busy having three kids (all girls) over a period of seven years—the public and worldwide government officials championed her as a major advocate in working with international humanitarian causes related to children. It was much-desired work for her while she raised a family over the next few years. It led to honorary and prestigious positions with UNICEF and Make-A-Wish Foundation while raising hundreds of millions of dollars over a period of five years. By 2016—Katharine received a Presidential Medal of Freedom for her children’s work that saved millions of children’s lives from the world’s critical diseases thanks to her fundraising abilities. All of that amid other awards, honorary degrees and various blandishments that I frankly lost track of. It’s around the time I had to take a break from following the dizzying speed of it all.

 
Yes, her fundraising abilities have really moved mountains like no one probably since the days decades ago of Princess Diana. I saw Katharine at a fund-raising event for one of those children’s causes about five years ago last. It was right after her third daughter was born, and Kat was so adept at compelling the millionaire corporate suits in the audience to open their wallets and give money. She hasn’t lost a beat on that when I saw her again a few days ago in New York City doing the same thing. I just sat unnoticed in the back of the venue where Kat was doing the fundraising—once again for children’s funds—but this time for Africa where new diseases had overtaken a new generation of children there. Sitting around me on various tables were several magazines and newspapers that had articles lamenting the lack of anyone in the entertainment industry who took this much time to raise money for causes…and so effectively. Katharine McPhee was touted everywhere in the media as the go-to woman who knew how to get things done and bring about real results in the world.

 
What was especially entertaining on that day was seeing the quite elderly, usually passive millionaires (and billionaires) who were invited and sat transfixed with Kat’s emotion, charm and elegance up on the podium. After Kat’s speech, several of them waddled up to the podium to talk to her while feeling around in their back pockets for their wallets as they creaked their way over to her space. I inconspicuously went up around the area to listen in.

 
“Holy God…you’re so beautiful! Are you sure you’re not some long-lost offspring of Natalie Wood who was a legend back when I was a kid?” said one old man while opening his wallet that looked like it was filled with nothing but credit cards.

 
“Well, as long as you have checks in there rather than credit cards…I’ll say ‘yes’ to your question if you want me to,” said Katharine while wiping a strand of her still-beautiful hair out of her left eye. Her face still looked classic, though I could tell by her occasional sour glances at herself in nearby reflective surfaces, she still had off and on doubts about her appearance.

 
“And how many zeros to write after this 1, darlin’…?” asked another old man while writing a check on the podium. He looked as if--from his extreme overweight--he should be giving some money away before expiring in his expensive corporate business suit.

 
Kat let out a barely audible “hmmm”—and went over to pick up a corner of the tablecloth blanketing the long dais where she sat earlier before being introduced to speak. On that spot of the tablecloth were some of her left-handed doodles she’d done with a Sharpie while waiting to go on to make her speech. She was in to drawing little circles now instead of the old hearts and smiley faces for some reason. Perhaps it was because she was so used to seeing seven zeros to the right of a bigger number on checks people were giving to charities she spearheaded. There were about EIGHT circles on the surface of that tablecloth—and Katharine just pointed to them while letting out a lighter version of her famous laugh.

 
“Ok,” the old man said without batting an eye or even turning apoplectic…while beginning to write a check for 1 billion dollars.

 
Everybody within earshot gasped—until it was realized this was Marcus Scott…one of the top five Trillionaires on the Forbes List last year. He pretty much controlled the entire magnet industry (called Magtech) that developed a lot of new technologies within the last decade. Even so, a billion dollars still goes a long way today.

 
“Ah still get giddeh when ah hear ya old single of ‘Ovuh thuh Rainbow’…” cackled one other old-timer southern billionaire while starting to giggle like a little girl after he made his comment.

 
Kat’s well-accented and much-used “Thank you!” automatically rang out—followed by a minor eyeball roll and red face by the old man’s horrible laugh. Then she noticed the man moving in closer as if he wanted to plant a kiss straight on her lips. Only seconds later did the man spring a check out in front of her face for 25 million dollars…which brought on an automatic reflexive action by her to kiss the old man on the cheek several times.

 
Following these rich men were other people who were just people of average incomes also transfixed by her earlier speech. Many of them begged Katharine to sing one of her old hits while they wrote more modest checks. Kat was used to hearing people asking her to sing—along with asking her to do much more ambitious things than that. Most of those things to help humanity in some way were done willingly by her, but the demands of people on her time were getting greater each year. She sang an A Cappella version of one of those old hits from one of her albums to those people. Then she went on her way to head back to her apartment suite in Central Park West with her husband and kids. In only two hours, and with undoubtedly misunderstood ease, she’d just helped raise 2 billion dollars for this cause.

 
Taking that last train of thought, a lot of people just thought that Katharine could work miracles like that with little effort. I managed to overhear her talking to her husband as they headed out that evening.

 
“I wonder what would happen if I ever turned down something by anybody?” Katharine asked her husband while talking directly in his ear so none of the press in the immediate vicinity would be able to hear.

 
“I don’t think you really can say no to anything that’ll help the world. It’s your nature,” her husband said back in her ear in a way that showed her he understood Katharine’s psyche to the core. They both understood one another and knew what made one another tick. Though sometimes they’d surprise one another with something spontaneous they couldn’t figure out.

 
“I’m still waiting for someone to be my successor…” Katharine said back to him with a little wry smile and giving him a light kiss. After she made that comment—I could see her going inward for a few seconds as if she was dissecting what she said with a very serious concern behind it. That pensive face with those arched eyebrows over her intense eyes was well-known by anybody who was familiar with her emotions.

 
Katharine was going to do something else for people tomorrow. This time, it was a large gathering and reunion of old Kat Pack members—and a private concert and meeting she was going to give them. It was out in L.A., which meant flying out early in the morning.

 
Oh sure, I had to examine this too—and I managed to get to L.A. before Katharine did. Right before Katharine came out to perform at this event the next afternoon, I estimated the crowd at close to 10,000. I also recognized just about every face from both Kat Pack past and more recent—along with hearing some discussions from them about some of the older members who’d passed on recently. I stayed out of sight, though, and just wanted to absorb Katharine’s performance. She hadn’t performed in a little while on a live stage, so the anticipation in the room was palpable beyond belief. The minute she hit the stage, the whole place erupted into a noise she probably hadn’t heard since her last worldwide tour three years earlier. Even though there were a lot of older people there—it didn’t matter to any of them when the sound bested the decibel level of…well, at least 100,000 people cheering…with a jet in the room besides.    

 
Kat had so many past hits from her albums, Broadway performances and performances in movies that it was as if everybody lived a lifetime through that hour of her performing a medley of her songs. Everybody seems to have different feelings of how they sort out time and how it means to them. Sometimes you prefer to just stay in the moment where you are rather than reflect on where you came from or where you’re going. It looked to me that Katharine was just absorbing the moment—because maybe she was too overwhelmed to deal with what she’d accomplished and what could lie ahead. But if she had any moments of flashback, it was what happened next. Kellie Pickler made a surprise appearance on stage with Kat for the first time in years—but also with some stunning news.

 
“My Gaw…Kat! Ya know, ever since I got into politics, I never thought I’d go back to performing again. And here we are,” Kellie said in a way that didn’t seem spontaneous. I think her comment was planned…even though what she said next after they sang a song together appeared not to be. (Yes, a lot of people were surprised Kellie went into politics about five years ago after a successful Country music career—and was now a successful congresswoman representing Louisiana.)

 
The duet with Kat and Kellie was the height of emotion. Perhaps it was cathartic for Kat to cry again, which I’d heard through some sources she hadn’t been able to do for a while.  She really bawled while she hugged Kellie in front of these screaming thousands. Was Kellie an emotional symbol of her younger years when things were slightly simpler? I don’t know, and I’m still trying to figure it out if I ever do. If she was, that all changed next when Kellie made a stunning announcement straight from her own political party.

 
“Hey, ya’ll shush for just a minute! Kat doesn’t know what I’m about to say to her…and neither do ya’ll. I’ve had some recent meetings with officials at the Democratic Party Headquarters in Washington, D.C.—and they all know how important Kat’s been to the world over the years as much as we do. We figure she could make an even bigger difference if she got involved in politics. That’s why there’s a task force team being set up through my party to help Kat here campaign to be the first…President of the United States in ‘28! That is, if she wants to take on the campaign.”

 
Kat’s jaw rightly hit the floor after Kellie’s offer. The jawdrop rivaled the one she gave the night Chris Daughtry unexpectedly went home on ‘AI’ more than twenty years ago now. Though Kat had another one of those moments of going internally for a minute to seemingly process her reach to people and how it could possibly be made better. There were reports that she still had some roadblocks to getting things done in certain charities that she wanted to conquer. Being President would help in that arena—if the rest of the troubles in the world she’d be responsible for wouldn’t have to be attended to first.

 
The screaming in the venue was fever pitch…following by a strangely hypnotic chant of “Kat in ‘28! Kat in ’28! Kat in ’28!” Each time the chant was made—it got louder and louder…that made Kat give a reflexive action to finally raise her microphone to respond…

 
“I’ll…do it,” said Kat in a weak voice. Then she said it again three more times—with each one being louder and louder until the final one almost outdid the decibel level of a single scream.

 
It almost seemed to me that she had to convince herself with each repeat of her confirmation that she could take it on. But after everybody rushed the stage after she accepted—I thought she looked delirious. It was the first time I ever noticed Kat look like she was not in control in a scene bordering on madness. Usually she had complete command over the most crowded and chaotic situations.

 
Well, as you might guess, I was transfixed with all of this. Even I felt dizzy from it all and had to go out and get some air as I did back when I last saw Katharine that led to my stopping watching her career because of everything seeming to happen at once. Being the curious person that I was, though, I had to find a way backstage and hear what all the people around the area were saying about this. I always have—and I got back there…after taking a deep breath minutes earlier as preparation for stepping into a symbolic eye of a hurricane. Instead, it resembled more of a strange universe of quiet concern and private discussions going on all over the backstage area. These people, who are now inside and outside Kat’s career orbit, were all standing around in groups of three—all of whom I managed to go by and listen to as if bouncing off bumpers in a pinball machine.

 
“Is Pickler putting on a joke?”

 
“Which will come first: The Presidential Campaign or turning chicken and being pelted with eggs?"

 
“Career pressure starts in the eyes—and I’ve recently noticed it under hers for the first time.”

 
“Does this mean I have to switch my political affiliation now to stay employed?”

 
I felt compelled to stop by each one and answer each question that I managed to hear—but I just moved on. At the head of this seeming pyramid of people standing in threes…there I saw Kat and her husband standing together as two overly concerned adults. Except, this time, they were off in a private area where nobody else was. They weren’t being light-hearted as they usually were in conversations about her career pressures. Kat looked drained and as if she just signed a deal with the devil. As serious as both looked at one another, my ability to listen in could tell that her husband was more than seriously on the pro side of Katharine keeping her influence up in the world.

 
“Remember the deal we made when we married that you said you’d try to do anything to save the world—and I’d just be your support base?” Kat’s husband said with a re-affirmation as if it was written in stone.

 
“Yes, of course I do,” Kat said with a little quiver deep in her voice. “But I never looked at that promise as going beyond the perimeters of what I’ve been doing. And what happened to doing altruistic things for personal fulfillment rather than by public demand?”

 
Kat’s three daughters were nearby and looking up at her with already wise eyes of understanding what she was talking about.

 
“Listen to you. I can’t believe that you have doubts about doing something asked for by the public,” Kat’s husband replied while arching an eyebrow that was usually a Kat quirk. They both looked at one another as one of those moments when either one could say something surprising that contradicted what they thought they knew about each other’s personalities.

 
“I know, I’ve always led the life of doing for the people by the people. But didn’t that originally come from Lincoln as it applies to our own government? It seems I’ve become the world’s government when it comes to making sure things really get done. When those things get done effectively…then everybody thinks you can take it to each ensuing level.”

 
“But you CAN take it to the next level, Katharine. You’ve mastered every other one—so why not take it to the highest level?”

 
Kat leaned in a little closer to her husband with one of those piercing looks in her eyes that would make anybody shiver. “It’s because I’m tired. I need to get back to helping people in a way that incites other people to do the same thing without complacency taking over thinking Katharine will handle it all.”

 
Kat’s husband leaned a little more in to his wife himself as if he was about to give her a sympathy kiss. “You’re one of the few, though, to have a personality that enables things to get done. Others can do it—and they do—but aren’t nearly as effective. Magnetic personality is almost everything in making big things get done.”

 
“Well, I don’t have the answers to how I make others be as effective—just as much as I still can’t figure my own self out sometimes. Maybe a worldwide search for the right person who wants to follow in my footsteps is the next step. That has to be the next step…because it won’t be running for President of the United States.”

 
Kat’s husband turned a bit white in the face realizing that his world-famous wife would be turning down something the public demanded…and what the public backlash would be. I managed to get out of the way—but I caught a lot of Katharine’s staff overhearing the slightly heated discussion that got loud enough to be overheard by all. I could see the staff walking over to her and murmuring something about waiting 48 hours before announcing at a press conference that Katharine would turn the campaign offer down. Of course, I was going to be there at the press conference to witness history.

 
I stayed away from observing Katharine the next day as she and her staff planned a speech. I knew what she was like in private anyway—as evidenced in that discussion with her husband and many other observances. She was always passionate about life when just at home and excited about what she was going to do next. Now, I can see that she’s about to create passion for a new passion. It’s going to be one that actually makes people see their own passion, which obviously won’t induce passion right away by the people.

 
When I arrived this afternoon to the recently-built and huge Los Angeles Convention Hall—most of the press and public arriving were assuming that Katharine would accept the campaign for President. It was announced in the press yesterday that she’d be making an important announcement to the national press. She’s set such a standard for herself that when she said she wouldn’t accept the campaign offer—there was the gasp of abandonment that my generation hadn’t really heard before in this country when it related to one influential person. Kat managed to express herself with this speech in the same way she did to her husband, gave her reasons, and detailed what she wanted to get back to.

 
Unfortunately, some were so stunned and seemingly blinded by their own vision of her-- they ended up walking out before Katharine finished her speech. It seemed I was the only one in the room who truly understood her and what she was trying to do. That was the result of gradually knowing who she was as a person over the years from a different perspective than from most people. And the people in this room have to do a lot of learning in order to progress the human condition to a better level. The people in this room are Katharine’s true hope for the kind of people she wants to take her place someday. Maybe there’s more out there—but that’ll be part of her new work FOR people.

 
There, can you see Katharine now? She’s walking out of the venue just as only a quarter of the entire audience decided to stay to applaud her. There’s a long corridor that leads outside—where she’ll go into her car and head home for some needed rest until deciding how to proceed to her next proper level. I’m standing here watching her walk this long corridor with her husband and daughters in her arms--and seeing her get gradually farther away as if she’s slowly ambling into an uncertain future. The world’s a truly crazy place now of looking for heroes anywhere they can get them…that can turn into twisted perceptions. I find it ironic, too, that here Kat’s going misunderstood again over twenty years after she went through the same thing on ‘American Idol’ all those years ago. She seemed to get people to finally understand her eventually that seemed to stick up until now. But the gradual public demands of her made them lose their understanding of her over time. I dare say that even Kat, herself, lost sight of who she really was because of her blind love for all people.

 
Wow, I’m so glad that I took the time to analyze all that. I really needed to. Now I can move on from the state of mind I’m in now. You see, I’m not from the time I just analyzed. I’m actually about fifty years ahead from the incidents that happened, but I’ve managed to get back there in ways I never thought I’d ever be able to achieve. This last week, I’ve been bedridden with a major illness due to my progressing old age. When you get in those situations—and are too weak to read or do any other activity—you have nowhere else to go but inward. Being sedentary can truly bring you to explore thoughts that were stuck in your subconscious for years. Ideas for artistic endeavors such as songs, writing projects, paintings…and even minor inventions…all get explored when in this state. It’s a depressing experience having to realize they’ll just lie stagnant in your mind in death—because you’re too weak now to make them a reality. Along with those ideas are a massive accumulation of perceptions of events in your entire life. I managed to open the doors to select ones this week and revisit certain points that I needed to explore to give me a better understanding of myself. I’ve had such an interesting and unusual life that it was hard to get that understanding at times.

 
After exploring all those memories in a vivid way for several days—I woke up this morning and felt like I was starting to fade away.  I was getting weaker and my heart felt as if it was slowing down. My personal caretaker and children happened to come in and make me a little more alert while turning on the TV and pointing out some bad news for me. Memories of Kellie Pickler came flooding to mind when the news said she’d just passed away today at the age of 90. It’s strange how overwhelming things like that can bring on an even more vivid memory. But that was really what tipped off my reminiscence today of Katharine turning down running for President of the United States. Kelly did understand her decision, though, and they stayed as close friends. The public who finally understood were the ones who already had a deep understanding of her. The ones who didn’t were just weeded out as any support base has to do sometimes when there’s disconnects of understanding. Kat also went on to do the same work she had been doing—while managing to make her unique plan of finding successors a success. About a dozen new people became protégés to her and took over her roles when she finally retired completely. So that moment in time I revisited was truly a critical time of self-discovery second only to her struggles with bulimia years earlier.

 
Now that I’m finally done understanding Katharine from then—I have a strange sense of peace and a free feeling that I haven’t really had since long before my illness. It’s a feeling you have when you’re only 20 years old and still have the world to conquer. And now I’m seeing my parents who passed away over 25 years ago standing in a peaceful outdoor area. I also see a lot of other close loved ones around them. And…there’s Kellie too! Someone with a powerful voice is calling out my name. Yes, I’ll finally answer to my own name…

 
It’s Katharine. I’m Katharine McPhee…who’s been observing my own past in my mind all week as if a passive observer would. The voice is telling me I’ve passed on now to something greater…

 
Before I move on, I just want to say to whoever might have picked up my old memories that isn’t it ironic that Kellie and I passed away on the same day? I heard a story once about Thomas Jefferson and John Adams both dying on the same day: July 4^th, ironically. People who are indelibly linked leave a lot of odd ironies behind for people still alive to puzzle over for years, don’t they?

 
There, you see that girl there? It’s me, Katharine, and she’s lived a life like no other. Now it’s the beginning of a completely different one that still can use my love of all people.

Just a few thoughts after I was able to read your story finally Greg.  Just one thing that bugged me.  And it isn't a big deal as far as the story goes but...I needed a name for Katharine's husband.  That just bothered me.  I wanted to know his name!

Other than that minor complaint.  That was a very interesting look into a potential future for Katharine.  While I'm not so sure I have that grand of plans for her I did find it enjoyable to go along for the ride with her doing all of these wonderful things for the world.

Kellie's such a troublemaker!  I guess I won't say too much about details since the spoiler stuff but...I got the wrong impression when I saw the "deathbed" stuff.  You story was a way different style than I imagined.  Once I got comfortable with the POV I was able to figure it all out and enjoy it.

And the twist at the end makes you look back at it in a totally different way.  Because obviously it seems to be presented from say a reporter's eye view and then you find out....and you go "Oh, maybe I need to read it again with that in mind!"

Hmm...a little depressing (although realistic given where you went) that you had to mention KMFers passing away.  It just brought a reality I wasn't thinking about.  You mean...we aren't all going to live forever?

Anyway, for others who haven't read this and have read the others...this is WAY different from the prior ones.  Although that's a good thing.  That's the idea.  We don't really want everything to be the same thing.

I really liked it, Greg. After the "twist" at the end I had to go back and read it with that mindset.

And to get a little off topic I really had thought about Katharine being in politics. With all this election stuff going on I thought to myself , "Hey, if Arnold Schwarzenegger can be governor of California why can't Katharine?" Then, I might actually register to vote. My mom laughed when I registered to be an organ donor, but didn't register to vote.

Well Greg, you, Groucho, and Joe are forces to be reckoned with when it comes to fan fiction. I'm thinking about doing one, but inspiration hasn't quite struck me yet.

Aww, thanks Erika (how's SJSU treating you?).  Funny where inspiration can come from sometimes.  I'm doing something right now that...hmm, well you might not see it here but...I'm having fun with it.  That's all I'll say.  I feel like I'm neglecting the K & K tour though...I need to continue that thing.  But this other thing got me going so and I'm trying to figure out a way to make it KMF friendly.  The point I'm at now...it's good.  But...we'll see.  That's all I'll say.

Anyway...I've mentioned it before that the story I have up here was my third attempt at something.  The hardest part is just sitting down in front of the computer and getting the thing started.  Once you get it moving along, it goes pretty quickly, because the stories write themselves.  Or at least that's what I've found.

I struggled some with the first one and then suddenly about halfway through it something clicked.  I think I may have found the voices for the characters and so it started flowing better.  This new thing I'm doing is going much better because I know what I did well and didn't do so well the first time.  So...feel free to take a swing at it if you want to.

I promise we'll be gentle with criticism.  I think we all understand the effort involved in doing something like this.  It isn't a 30-minute thing.

This is supposed to be about Greg's story (not about me, I do that sometimes).  Um, ok...you didn't want put any spotlight on the husband.  OK...I get that.  Like I said...it took me a little bit to get comfortable in the structure of the story and once that happened I thought it was good.